NHK to unveil new 8K Super HD technology at Cannes Film Festival

Japan’s public broadcaster NHK will be unveiling its next-generation 8K Super Hi-Vision (SHV) format on May 16 and 17 by screening the first short film shot in the ultra-HD format at the Cannes International Film Festival. Director Toshio Lee will show his 27 minute comedy “Beauties À La Carte” on a 220-inch screen so viewers can better appreciate the 8K super HD format, with a 22.2 channel audio system, also developed by NHK.

NHK is more than just a broadcaster in Japan. They are “required” under the Broadcast Law to do research and development to advance broadcast technology, according to Masayuki Sugawara, a senior engineer in the Advanced Television Research Division of the Science & Technology Research Laboratories (STRL). Their annual R&D budget is at 77 million dollars and they have been doing research in ultra-HD since 1995. They developed the equipment for 8K with some of Japan’s top electronic companies including Fujitsu, JVC, Panasonic and Sharp. Only Sony is not involved because they have already invested in the 4K format which will be rendered obsolete when 8K finally catches on.

Sugawara says that they predict that 8k will become the “final two-dimensional television format”, based on their research into human perception. If there should be any more developments, it will be in 3D, and even in that aspect, NHK isn’t far behind. Their labs are already working on researching the next-generation in 3D technology. “The current stereoscopic 3D format just provides a different image to the left and right eye to create a 3D image in the brain. The integral photographic 3D that we are researching creates actual spatial images in front of the screen,” Sugawara adds. What this means is that people will be able to watch 3D without the sometimes annoying and intrusive special glasses. But that system will still take around 20 years to reach households, so in the meantime, they will be focusing on bringing the 8K HD system to the public.

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